RELATED COVERAGE

“Outdoor School is important. It’s important to me, to hosts of my friends, to our education system and to our state,” Barnett said. “It gives sixth-graders a light to carry them through the dark years of middle school. It gives high school students the opportunity to learn what it feels like to be looked up to.”

Should it pass, the initiative promises to fund a full week of Outdoor School for 50,000 students and 3,000 high school counselors.

It would redirect 4 percent of lottery funds — or up to $22 million a year — away from economic development projects. That approach has drawn some criticism, including the opposition of Democratic state Sen. Betsy Johnson.